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An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser - Monkeynotes by Pinkmonkey.Com Pinkmonkey® Literature Notes On An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser - MonkeyNotes by PinkMonkey.com PinkMonkey® Literature Notes on . http://monkeynote.stores.yahoo.net/ Sample MonkeyNotes Note: this sample contains only excerpts and does not represent the full contents of the booknote. This will give you an idea of the format and content. An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser 1925 MonkeyNotes by Ray Mescallado Reprinted with permission from TheBestNotes.com Copyright © 2005, All Rights Reserved Distribution without the written consent of PinkMonkey.com or TheBestNotes.com is strictly prohibited. http://monkeynote.stores.yahoo.net/ PinkMonkey.com/TheBestNotes.com. Copyright © 2005, All Rights Reserved. No further distribution without written consent. 1 http://monkeynote.stores.yahoo.net/ An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser - MonkeyNotes by PinkMonkey.com KEY LITERARY ELEMENTS SETTING Taking place in the United States in the first quarter of the twentieth century, An American Tragedy follows…... CHARACTER LIST MAJOR CHARACTERS Clyde Griffiths - A young man who aspires to rise out of poverty but commits murder to pursue this goal. Asa Griffiths - Clyde’s spiritually dedicated but otherwise dissolute father. Elvira Griffiths - Clyde’s spiritually dedicated and psychologically strong mother. Hester “Esta” Griffiths - Clyde’s older sister, who becomes pregnant out of wedlock. Samuel Griffiths - Clyde’s uncle and Asa's brother, a successful businessman who owns a collar factory in Lycurgus, New York. Oscar Hegglund - A bell boy at the Green-Davidson who befriends Clyde. Thomas Ratterer - A bell boy at the Green-Davidson who befriends Clyde. Hortense Briggs - A friend of Louise Ratterer who Clyde romantically pursues. Willard Sparser - A friend of Hegglund who borrows his boss’s Packard for the fatal automobile trip. Elizabeth Griffiths - Samuel Griffiths’ wife. Myra Griffths - Samuel Griffiths’ older, more reclusive daughter. Bella Griffiths - Samuel Griffiths’ younger, more social daughter. Gilbert Griffiths - Samuel Griffiths’ only son and Secretary of the Griffiths Collar Company, he bears a strong resemblance to Clyde…….. There are 4 pages of additional characters identified in the complete booknote. CONFLICT Protagonist - The protagonist of a story is the main character who traditionally undergoes some sort of change. Clyde Griffiths is the central character of the novel, the one whose progress we follow throughout the novel. Antagonist - The antagonist of a story is the force that provides an obstacle for the protagonist. The antagonist does not always have to be a single character or even a character at all. In a large sense, American culture is the antagonist. However, individual obstacles to Clyde's goals are pointed out over the course…… Climax - Clyde kills Roberta, ensuring that her pregnancy will not spoil his chances …….. Outcome - Clyde is found guilty, sentenced to be executed, and dies on the…… PinkMonkey.com/TheBestNotes.com. Copyright © 2005, All Rights Reserved. No further distribution without written consent. 2 http://monkeynote.stores.yahoo.net/ An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser - MonkeyNotes by PinkMonkey.com SHORT PLOT/CHAPTER SUMMARY (Synopsis) An American Tragedy follows the life of Clyde Griffiths from late childhood to his infamous death. Beginning his life as the impoverished son of street missionaries, young Clyde aspires to a more affluent life with luxuries, fine clothes, and a woman who'll love him. As a young man, Clyde achieves a measure of this as a bellhop for the Green-Davidson hotel in Kansas City until a car accident involving the death of a little girl forced him to flee the city. Traveling and working under a different name, Clyde winds up in Chicago and meets his prosperous uncle, Samuel Griffiths. Samuel invites Clyde back to the city of Lycurgus, New York, to work at…… THEMES Major Themes The defining theme of An American Tragedy - indeed, the basis for its title - is the contradiction of American ambition. Dreiser has stated repeatedly that the desire to rise up socially and financially in modern America often holds the very seeds by which such desires are denied. This holds especially true for the poor of America, who are most desperate to attain a higher status and least equipped to properly do so. In pursuing a better life for himself, Clyde is doing exactly what's expected of him by American society - however, in murdering Roberta, he overstepped the boundaries of the society in which he wanted to excel. Was murder a necessary part of his actions - and thus, an acceptable part of the American dream? No, but Dreiser structures and writes…… Additional themes are discussed in the complete booknote. MOOD The mood of An American Tragedy is that of any other tragedy - somber, reflective, often emphasizing the inevitable turn of events that leads to the hero's downfall. BACKGROUND INFORMATION - BIOGRAPHY Theodore Dreiser’s most ambitious and critically acclaimed novel is strongly autobiographical in nature, reflecting his own upbringing though not the eventual trajectory of success his life took. Herman Theodore Dreiser was born on August 27, 1871 in Terre Haute, Indiana, the son of fiercely dogmatic German Catholic father and a German-Moravian Mennonite mother. His childhood was poverty-stricken as the family wandered the Midwest, his father often in search of employment. Dreiser left home at sixteen and managed to attend Indiana University for one year. In 1892, Dreiser began a career in journalism, moving around the Midwest and eventually settling in New York. His first novel, Sister Carrie, was based partly on his own sister, who had run…….. LITERARY / HISTORICAL INFORMATION The novel was inspired by two personal histories: Dreiser’s own early life, recounted above, and the murder trial of Chester Gillette. Like Dreiser, Gillette's immediate family was involved in charity and spiritual work - in their case, the Salvation Army - and move frequently. Also like Dreiser, Gillette was given a chance to pursue a better education than his early life permitted, but did not stick with it. Leaving school, Gillette went to work for his uncle, the owner of the Gillette Skirt Factory in Cortland, New York. Grace Brown escaped the tedium of farm life by following her sister to Cortland, working in the Gillette factory. The two become involved in 1905 and by 1906 Grace became pregnant. She demanded……. PinkMonkey.com/TheBestNotes.com. Copyright © 2005, All Rights Reserved. No further distribution without written consent. 3 http://monkeynote.stores.yahoo.net/ An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser - MonkeyNotes by PinkMonkey.com CHAPTER SUMMARIES WITH NOTES BOOK ONE Book One covers the early years of Clyde’s life and is set in Kansas City. It’s useful to see Book One as a prelude and prolonged foreshadowing of Book Two, as Clyde’s early life helps establish patterns that makes Clyde’s actions in Lycurgus seem even more inevitable. CHAPTER ONE Summary The novel begins by introducing a family of six who preach on a busy street in Kansas City: Asa and Elvira Griffiths and their children. Though elder daughter Hester leads a hymn, elder son Clyde is conspicuously uncomfortable. Clyde is actually uncomfortable about many things: with the night’s performance, with his parents’ decision to work as street missionaries, with his family’s poverty-stricken situation as a result of their mission work, with the way other boys tease Clyde about his family’s work and their lifestyle. And while appearing devout, young Hester is motivated more by the attention paid upon her for her singing than any deeper spiritual calling. After two hymns and separate addressing of the audience by both Asa and Elvira Griffiths, the family return to their home, a mission house. The parents’ enthusiasm and optimism for their night’s work is not reflected in their children. Notes The story begins at dusk as people return home from work, emphasizing the industrial capitalist system which has come to dominate America as well as symbolically evoking a darkening of the human spirit because of this system. The spiritual work of the Griffiths brings little solace to those who witness it; if anything, people are wary because they question the wisdom of parents who would force their children to do such work. Such opinions are not entirely unfounded, as we are quickly made aware of the ambivalence the older children, Esta and Clyde, hold about their parents’ evangelical efforts. CHAPTER TWO Summary Asa is a sensitive yet dissolute individual, while Elvira has a sterner, more directed personality. While Clyde has an emotional and romanticizing quality taken from his father, he is ashamed of the poverty and shabbiness of his family’s missionary travels across the American Midwest. The constant moving and devotion to missionary work has kept the Griffiths children from a solid education and, often, from the bare necessities of survival. Currently, the family live in Kansas City on Bickel Street, in a building whose front half is used for meetings; various mottoes adorn the main hall, including those warning of the evils of alcohol. While Asa was the one first inspired to evangelical work, Elvira became equally devoted upon marrying him. And despite the many people around Clyde who praised God, he is himself skeptical of the Lord’s role in the world, given his family’s situation. The one thing about his family that intrigues Clyde is Samuel Griffiths, a brother of Asa’s who owns and runs a successful collar factory in Lycurgus, New York. Though poverty- stricken and poorly educated, Clyde aspires to a better station and disdains the more menial work that would be immediately available to him. This vanity is further compounded by his growing interest and confusion over the opposite sex, which despite his good looks, only makes him more aware of his lower social standing. Thus, young Clyde is depressed and unsure of how to proceed. Notes Where the first chapter creates a tableau that conveys the overall themes of the novel, the second chapter sets out some of the specific motifs that will unfold.
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